More than expected use of my favorite X-Man, Iceman (thank you “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends”), in the future scenes, as well as him being the last line of defence against the Sentinels

Cons:

All the characters aged amazingly well in the future

Magneto’s character motivation in Paris

Magneto’s apparent never before heard of powers to see behind his head and immediately clot arterial bleeding

1973 Cerebro and underground X-Mansion set looked incredibly advanced and exactly the same as the 2000 set

More a collection of set pieces than a complete and cohesive story

Review: Though you know where the film is heading, you never know how you are going to get there and exactly what is going to happen. Also, there were some surprisingly emotional deaths in the third act. Overall a big surprise in terms of execution and how much I loved the film.

Grade = A-

Bonus material and comments after the poster/trailer link below.

Click on image to view trailer.

Bonus Commentary 1: X-Men Cinematic Universe Continuity Issues (It really doesn’t matter) – Did you realize that both Professor X and Magneto are in their 90s in 2023–the year the future scenes in X-Men: Days of Future Past occurs? Both are pretty spry for older guys. To be honest, the X-Men cinematic universe is closer in spirit to the comic universe–where continuity issues are the norm–than Marvel’s own Avengers Universe. In comics the technology is always slightly more advanced than today, but time moves slower. In a monthly series only a few days pass between issues, but in our time one month has passed. Inevitably the comic writers revamp their series to catch the it up to current events, politicians, and introduced technologies. This is why we all know Peter Parker got his powers in high school, accept him as currently being in his late 20s early 30s, and forget that he was created in the 60s. Comic writers only run into serious issues with characters whose origins are fixed by a historic event–Magneto being a Holocaust Survivor and Nick Fury leading the Howling Commandos in WWII. To keep the characters fresh and relatable you have to play with history a little. So long as the writer don’t take it too far, we happily go along for the ride.

By chosing the alternate reality route, Bryan Singer and company have broadened the choices of stories they can tell significantly while at the same time using the younger cast. We can buy that Prof. X is alive in the future and Magneto has his power because we heard the Professor’s voice and maybe saw Magneto move a chess piece at the end of Last Stand. We can accept that Jean Grey and Cyclops are alive at the end of Days because the past was changed so much that the events of the first X-Films probably did not happen exactly as we have seen. But most of all, we accept all this because we want to keep seeing new stories with these same characters.

Bonus Commentary 2: After Credit Scene – Worse one ever. First, based in the size of material being moved around like tetris pieces, the pyramids took too long to build. Second, that’s not even the power Apocalypse has. And third, the character doe not even look remotely similar to the ancient Egypt depiction of Apocalypse.

Bonus Commentary 3: Evan Peters appearing at Tampa Bay Comic Con in August 2014 – Why? I usually view actors appearing and signing autographs at smaller comic cons as older, or who have nothing going on with their careers at the present time. Evan Peters is young and is on a career high. The guy appears on a hit cable TV series where he is not type cast, and is getting near universal praise for his scene stealing performance in X-Men: Days of Future Past. So again I ask why is he at the Tampa Bay Comic Con? I don’t get it.

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